Foreign funding case: PTI fails to submit account details – yet again

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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has once again failed to submit details of the its financial accounts to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), arguing that it has filed a new writ petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for suspending scrutiny of its accounts by the top electoral body.

On Tuesday, the full bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Muhammad Raza, resumed hearing of a long-pending case filed by former PTI leader Akbar S Babar, seeking audit of party’s accounts as well as alleged foreign funding it received from abroad.

When the PTI lawyer cited the IHC writ petition, the ECP said there was no restraining order from the IHC whereby the party could avoid submitting its accounts details to the electoral body.

Adjourning hearing of the case until Wednesday (today), the CEC noted that the PTI had not complied with its orders to produce financial records.

The party had filed a similar writ petition in the IHC in November 2015 after the ECP passed a detailed order exercising its jurisdiction over the case in October of the same year.

While the IHC had not passed any stay orders, the PTI used the pendency of its writ petition in the IHC as an excuse to refuse production of financial documents sought by the ECP for over a year.

It was only in February 2017 when an IHC division bench remanded the case back to the ECP with the directions to review its jurisdiction and the locus standi of the petitioner.

The ECP completed its review and passed a short order on May 8 of this year announcing its complete jurisdiction over the case. In its order the ECP had also directed the PTI to produce the financial records as a ‘last chance’ by Tuesday’s hearing date.

The ‘foreign funding case’ was filed in November 2014 by Akbar S Babar, a founding member of the PTI and its former central vice president.